Security tightened ahead of Datta Jayanti, Eid-Milad; prohibitory orders clamped

Bengaluru, Jul 20: The Karnataka Congress on Monday slammed the State government's decision to distribute beds used by COVID-19 patients to Government-run hostels and called it as a "ridiculous" decision.

"It's ridiculous that the Govt plans to distribute beds used by COVID patients to Govt run hostels," read a tweet from the Karnataka Congress president DK Shivkumar.

He further said that the Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa should give these beds to his ministers, MLAs and officials.

He further went on to urge parents and students to speak "against this move" by the State government.

"Let CM @BSYBJP give these beds to his Ministers, MLAs & Officials! We are launching a movement against this Govt & appeal to parents, students & youths to speak against this move," Shivkumar's tweet read further.

Along with the tweet he also shared a video as well.

Karnataka reported 3,648 COVID-19 cases and 72 deaths on Monday, taking active cases to 42,216 and death toll to 1,403. Bengaluru recorded the highest number of cases and deaths today at 1,452 & 31, respectively, said the State Health Department.

Mangaluru, June 29: An elderly man, who was under quarantine at a lodge was inhumanly dragged on the floor and abandoned on the roadside by his own son. 

The shocking incident occurred in broad daylight at Deralakatte on the outskirts of the city today. 

The father and son are said to be natives of Uppala in Kasaragod district. The duo stayed in a hotel room at Deralakatte after returning from Mumbai a few days ago. 

Today the son dragged his father mercilessly on the floor and escaped after abandoning him on the road side. A CCTV camera has captured the incident. 

The jurisdictional Konaje police are trying trace the miscreant.

Istanbul: Mosques in Turkey reopened on Friday for mass prayers after more than two months as the government further eased strict restrictions to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

Turkey has been shifting since May to a "new normal" by easing lockdown measures and opening shopping malls, barbershops and hair salons.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said many other sites -- restaurants and cafes as well as libraries, parks and beaches -- will reopen from Monday.

Hundreds of worshippers wearing protective masks performed mass prayers outside Istanbul's historic Blue Mosque for the first time since mosques were shut down in March.

In the Ottoman-era Fatih mosque, worshippers prayed both inside and outside, with the municipality handing out disinfectants and disposable carpets.

"I have waited a lot for this, I have prayed a lot. I can say it's like a new birth, thanks to God, he has brought us back here," he said.

Another worshipper, Asum Tekif, 50, said: "It has a been a long time... we missed the mosques."

Turkey, a country of 83 million, has so far recorded 4,489 coronavirus-related deaths and 162,120 confirmed cases.

Prayers in Hagia Sophia

Muslim clerics on Friday recited prayers in the Hagia Sophia, the world famous Istanbul landmark which is now a museum after serving as a church and a mosque.

The prayers were held to celebrate the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, by the Ottomans in 1453.

"It is very important to commemorate the 567th anniversary of the conquest ... through prayers in the Hagia Sophia," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who attended the ceremony via videoconference.

The stunning edifice was first built as a church in the sixth century under the Byzantine Empire as the centrepiece of its capital Constantinople.

After the Ottoman conquest, it was converted into a mosque before being turned into a museum during the rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in the 1930s.

But there have been hints about reconverting the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Last year, Erdogan himself mooted the possibility of turning Hagia Sofia museum into a mosque.

Such calls have sparked anger among Christians and raised tensions with neighbouring Greece.

In 2015, a Muslim cleric recited the Koran in the Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years to mark the opening of an exhibition.

After Friday prayers at the Blue Mosque, a small group of Muslim worshippers shouted: "Let the chains break and let the Hagia Sophia open".

The group was later dispersed by the police who stopped them from protesting near Hagia Sophia that sits immediately opposite the Blue Mosque.